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MEMORIAL ADDRESS 






HON. WM.B. BATE, 



OF TLDXNKiS^lili, 



LIFE AND CHARACTER 



HON. EDWARD C. WALTHALL 

(Late a Senator from the State of Mississippi), 



DELIVERED IN THK 



SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, 



MAY 2 6, 1898, 



WASHINGTON. 
1898. 



•UJZ I 



JJemorial address upon the life and character 
of hon. edward c, walthall, 



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Mr. BATE. For the second time, Mr. President, in the same 
Congress, the Senate meets to pay its last tribute of admiration 
and regard to. a Senator from Mississippi. But few months have 
passed since our last mournful garlands were hung over the chair 
of the late Senator George, of that State, and to-day we are called 
upon to mingle our regrets at the death of his colleague, Edward 
Cary Walthall. Truly, " Deathborders upon our birth, and our 
cradle stands in the grave," and there are neither exemptions nor 
exceptions in that dread summons, which serves its process with- 
out discrimination as to honors or services — to-day upon a Glad- 
stone, whose fame completes the honors of a century, and to- 
morrow strikes down some lowly peasant. 

Truly, we all "await alike the inevitable hour " and follow only 
" the paths which lead but to the grave." 

The associations of years upon this floor, the concurrence and 
agreement in public measures, the sympathy and sufferings in the 
tent and on the field of battle, all prompt me to offer the tribute 
of my sincerest regard and highest admiration for the memory of 
Edward Gary Walthall. 

Long personal acquaintance and an earnest appreciation of his 
many and excellent virtues would induce me, were my powers 
equal to my will, to erect for him an imperishable monument. 
As I have been associated with him in the same efforts that have 
marked his most important public services, I am enabled to bear 
truthful testimonial of fine character and eminent worth as citi- 
zen and Senator in time of peace and as a superb and unsurpassed 
soldier in time of war. His sudden departure from the public 
service, from home, family, and friends can not fail to arouse in 
the minds of all Avho knew him sentiments of profound regret. 

In this great community of States, Mississippi has many sympa- 
thizers, who will bear heartfelt testimony of their appreciation of 
the eminent character of her representatives in this body. 

Senator Walthall was a native of Richmond, Va. At an early 
age he emigrated to the State of Mississippi. ■ Here he received his 
education and grew to distinguished manhood. Here he won the 
esteem of his fellow-citizens and received the honors that crown 
his memory. Here were formed his early associations; here were 
matured the political sentiments that guided and directed him 
through life. 

It is no ordinary character that we are called upon to portray. 
From his quiet, courteous deportment among his fellow-Senators. 
from his words of truth and earnestness, we can measure our sad 
bereavement. We may not expect soon to see thai gentle dignity 
united to that heroic courage and chivalric sense of honor that 
felt a stain worse than a wound. 

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He took in by inheritance, as it were, the principles of Democ- 
racy as tanghtby the Virginia fathers; be imbibed their spirit as 
a natural gift through the atmosphere of free thought. They 
were thoroughly imbued with the conviction of the inherent right 
of the people to govern themselves. These convictions Mr. Jeffer- 
son had crystallized in his immortal work. This has becomethe 
political gospel of men of noble aspirations and all friends oi the 
equal worth of men. The relations of the State to the Federal 
Government were clearly defined in Mr. Jefferson's celebrated 
resolutions that became an important chapter in the political his- 
tory of that Commonwealth. . . 

The same principles obtained no less prominence in Mississippi 
and were advocated with more intensity. In no State were polit 1- 
cal questions treated with more earnest convictions. The prin- 
ciples of Democracy in all their various aspects were maintained 
by a body of the most eloquent, learned, and determined advocates 
that ever appeared on the hustings. The public intelligence was 
never more completely cultivated and the general acquaintance 
with all the great political issues was thorough. .,.,,. 

Among the leading political debaters may be ranked McNutt, 
Poindexter, Foote, Davis, and the matchless orator. Prentiss. The 
bench and the bar of the State were occupied with men noted for 
their learning and brilliant advocacy. It was amid a galaxy of 
illustrious names that Senator Walthall received his first polit- 
ical lessons and made his advent in the legal profession. His pro- 
fessional course was dictated by his moral personality; and his 
personality was the same in all relations of life. 

A sincere and earnest purpose in his intercourse with all men 
in public or private duties marked the conduct of a character that 
never departed from the most delicate shades of honor. In all his 
eventful life, in peace and war, no suspicion that could mar his 
well-regulated conduct with men was ever entertained. So care- 
ful and just to all with whom he had relations was he that he was 
exempt from censure. , . 

Senator Walthall received an academic education in Holly 
Springs, Miss., and studied law. and was there admitted to prac- 
tice. He devoted himself with that assiduity that has ever 
marked his course in life. His success was rapid and remunera- 
tive, and soon he stood among the leaders of his profession, pre- 
eminent for brilliant talents and legal learning. He attained dis- 
tinction and went to the front free from envy or antagonistic 
rivalry. This was the result of his personality. 

He was in harmony with the people in their political sentiments. 
He was endowed by nature with a refined sensibility that intro- 
duced him to the confidence of the profession and the people. A 
supreme regard for the interests of his clients and the sanctity of 
his duty to them rendered him careful in the preparation of his 
cases and earnest in their advocacy. This gave him influence 
with the court and jury. A lofty integrity and an acute sense 
of honor disrobed him of any suspicion of professional trick or the 
possibility of trifling with the interests of those who had confided 
in him. 

With a zeal reenforced by an ardent sense of duty he devoted 
an intelligence that always proved adequate to the exigencies. 
His conscientious regard for his client's rights excited the most 
careful consideration of the principles involved. An exact judg- 
ment and an acute, penetrating, and active intellect were brought 

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to the subject before liira. A refined, courteous manner, born of 
his respect for the dignity and worth of all men, secured for him 
the respect of all classes. He had no strong yearning for office, 
but a determination to deserve the confidence of the community 
in his character for integrity and sincerity. 

Instructed by the light of a former generation and encouraged 
by the success that had crowned their sublime purpose under like 
conditions, and seeing with impatience that which they believed 
to be a studied effort to deprive them of constitutional rights, the 
States of the South resolved, respectively, to assert their sovereign 
rights and retire from the Union and form a new republic that 
would be influenced by the voice of her own people, among whom 
similar pursuits created similar interests. 

They were not dissatisfied with the Republic of their fathers, 
but they feared for their dearest interests under the influence of 
new political principles that had triumphed in the Republic, which 
they regarded as a direct menace to their institutions. Long and 
anxious had the people anticipated the crisis. Forty years of dis- 
cussion and waiting had brought to them full fruits of their pain- 
ful anxiety. The election of President in 1860 seemed to them the 
knell of submission or the establishment of a new government 
"founded on such principles and organizing its powers in such 
form as to them seemed most likely to affect their safety and hap- 
piness." 

Senator Walthall, thoroughly imbued with these views, ear- 
nestly enlisted in the cause of his native and beloved South. His 
soldierly qualities, his fine powers, and earnest nature carried 
him through the military grades to that of major-general. He 
acted from patriotic conviction and in response to the demand of 
his State, which was his sovereign, and, if I may say so, in obedi- 
ence to the demands of that unseen force that broods over human 
society and inspires the great events that mark the progress of 
humanity. 

Mr. President, all great changes in society are preceded by ex- 
traordinary efforts. It is only during the throes of creative 
epochs that great characters are evolved. They mark the growth 
of the nations; they impress their purposes, philosophy, and sen- 
timents on the human race. The conspicuous personages in his- 
torv are evoked by those great epochs that force intense and severe 
conflicts of sentiments. They erect their monuments on the shores 
of time in the form of great and good men and noble deeds, and 
are as conspicuous as are the lofty mountains that mark the topog- 
raphy of the earth. 

They are only the living, active forces that arc created by the 
epochs. This period, in which occurred our war between the 
States, developed many splendid characters, of which any country 
might be justly proud; and among them is found, in our brief 
but brilliant Confederate history, the name of Gen. Edward C. 
Walthall. 

1 can not speak too highly of his success. To his fine judgment, 
earnest and dignified deportment, he added a fervent and unself- 
ish patriotism. His gentle and simple manners were reenforced 
with the courage and prowess of Chevalier Bayard. 

Firm and undaunted in battle, self-poised and resourceful in 

def< at, as distinguished for his generous humanity as he was 

revered for his heroic conduct in action, were the characteristics 

of his army life. He was the same character in war that he was 

8412 



in peace; devoted to his duty, ho consecrated his fine powers to 
the interests of his country, and for the 8UCC< ss of the cause he 
deemed it the supreme act of patriotism to securo its triumphs. 

Mr. President, like my honorable friend who has just preceded 
me, my first soldier acquaintance with General WALTHALL was 
preceding the Bragg-Rosecrans campaign, the objective of which 
was south of the Tennessee River. This campaign culminated in 
the grand historic battle of Chickamauga, in September, 180:3. 
General WALTHALL was on the Confederate side, and was in the 
forefront from the beginning to the close of that great battle, 
which history is writing as the best fought battle on both sides 
during the war. This brilliant victory for the Confederates was 
soon followed by their defeat at Missionary Ridge, where my 
friend from Florida [Mr. Pasco] was wounded. Walthall 
heard the shout of victory of the Confederates at Chickamauga, 
and that of victory from Federals at Missionary Ridge. I can 
only refer to the winter spent in Dalton, Ga., and the North Geor- 
gia campaign of a hundred days, when every movement was a 
battlefield and every battlefield a graveyard. 

For one hundred days cannons thundered and muskets flashed, 
and for one hundred nights the stars looked down on new-mado 
graves and new battle lines stained with blood, in all of which 
General Walthall bore a conspicuous part. And so around At- 
lanta and Jonesboro, and then on to the glorious and ill-fated 
field of Franklin, Tenn. , where 6,000 out of less than 15.000 trained 
and tried Confederate soldiers went down before the Federal 
hreastworks in less than an hour and a half and in the most un- 
justifiable and unnecessary battle of the war. 

It was a victory, but to gain it destroyed an army. Walthall 
was one of the assaulting party, as was my friend in front of me 
[Mr. Cockrell] . He was also one of us to experience subsequent 
defeat around Nashville, and being ordered to bring up the rear 
of the retreating Confederate army, along with General Forrest, 
commanding the cavalry, did so in splendid manner and deservedly 
gained honor and credit for so doing. 

He followed the Confederate army and was a part of it at its 
surrender. 

The first great battle in which General Walthall and myself 
were together in the fight was that of Chickamauga, under Gen- 
eral Bragg, and what a history it has, both in war and in peace. 
See Chickamauga to-day. No battlefield on earth, nothing in his- 
tory is like unto Chickamauga. It was there on two separate 
days, in 1863, that men of the same kith and kin, after marching 
and countermarching for position, met in deadly conflict. Wal- 
thall was in that line. My friend from Missouri [Mr. Cock- 
rell] was in it. The field, after desperate struggle, was held by 
the Confederates, with a loss of near o0 per cent on each side. 

To-day presents a scene not known to history. Thepartieswho 
ought there then, amid the smoke of battle, grappled to the death, 
are to-day mustering together in a common cause on the blood- 
marked field and sleeping together under the same tent cloth and 
drilling and marching together as though they had never been 
enemies. What field can show such a history? It is a spectacle 
unique in history, without its parallel in all the annals of war. 
It is the romance of reality. How wondrous are the ways of 
Providence! " Behind a frowning Providence He hides a smiling 
face." 

U12 



The Iliad of our long-exhausting woes having closed, Senator 
Walthall accepted the situation, returned to his home, resumed 
his profession amid the scattered remains of former prosperity 
and new political and social conditions. Life had to be com- 
menced again under very embarrassing circumstances. With 
that heroic purpose that had ever marked his course he devoted 
his finest powers to the work. Before his unfaltering fortitude 
all opposing obstacles yielded. The work of reconstruction was 
not only a grave impediment to the restoration of prosperity, but 
a most humiliating experience for the old residents of the State. 

It was found in the South to be impossible to elevate an inferior 
race to the same moral, social, and political plane by a mere leg- 
islative enactment. Dissociable races must find by experience 
their working relations. This has often resulted in the total de- 
struction of the weaker or their expulsion from the country. In 
the South the jarring contest finally mellowed into a tranquil 
.submission to the natural laws of mutual interests. The life and 
services of Senator Walthall were not forgotten by a grateful 
people who had been given his finest service to promote their 
prosperity. 

They elevated him to a seat in the body where his last labors 
were exerted for the Republic. There he knew he entered on 
sacred ground, trod in the olden time by the wise and great of 
the Republic, the demigods of the nation's glory. Their noble 
virtues and inspiring example were to him a pillar of fire by night 
and a directing cloud by day. To form a new nation and nurse 
it into vigorous manhood is the highest gift of the statesman. 
Next to these are the men who seek to maintain the established 
order and preserve in their integrity the institutions handed down 
bv the creative men, such as our fathers were. 

His modest deportment, refined manners, truthful and sincere 
mien won for him honors and the approbation of all who knew 
him. Rarely in history do we find such marked efficiency united 
with such delicate sensibility. It is a notable instance where un- 
assuming merit secured the prize that usually falls to the lot of 
aggressive audacity. He not only possessed genuine courage, but 
all the virtues akin to it. To a sense of duty and fidelity to the 
principles that actuated him, he added a ready intelligence and 
simple but captivating address that won all hearts, and none 
more than the Senators with whom he came in daily contact. He 
was not so ambitious of position as he was determined to deserve 
it, and was content with the conscious sense of having acted to 
the best of his ability the part assigned. 

Senator Walthall belonged to that class of statesmen who de- 
vote themselves to the duty of maintaining the institutions of the 
country in their present state. He had a firm confidence in the 
capacity of the people to provide for their ownlocal self-government 
and that separate States"could best maintain their own local inter- 
est. He opposed all measures calculated to diminish the influence 
and power of the States. He knew that the Federal Government, 
with its vast prerogatives, commanding influence, and immense 
patronage would not only take care of its integrity, but was con- 
tinually trenching on the reserved rights of the States. Hence, 
with anxious solicitude he guarded the rights and interests of the 
States from all encroachments. 

In the smaller communities the liberties of the people were se- 
cure so long as they were in the care of and protected by the 

JHi 



State. The growing influence of the Federal Government and 
the diminution of the State were manifest, especially since the civil 
war, and were calculated to arrest the attention of all lovers of 
the Republic as it was organized and put in motion by Washing- 
ton and his illustrious companions. 

These duties, often important and of grave character, were per- 
formed by Senator Walthall with such a sense of justice and 
regard for the feelings and rights of others as to leave no sting 
behind them. No enmities mar his bright and stainless record — 
only the memories redolent of tender sympathies and sweet and 
pleasing reminiscence. 

The late Senator from Mississippi was a man just and tenacious 
of purpose, with a refined and penetrating judgment, capable of 
bringing together within a short space all that was necessary to 
establish, to illustrate, and to decorate that side of a question 
which he supported, and stated his matter skillfully and with 
luminous explanation. 

He was a politician, sincere and courageous, believing consci- 
entiously in the principles of his party; yielding to no temptations 
of temporary expediency in the defense or advocacy of its meas- 
ures or in the support of its administrations. He was destitute of 
all injustice toward those who differed from hirn on the great prin- 
ciples of government or measures of administration, awarding to 
every opponent the same honesty and sincerity which he knew 
actuated and governed his own public life. 

He took no short cuts in politics, but pursued the well-defined 
paths of constitutional government, believing that only by a strict 
adherence to our fundamental charter would honesty in the ad- 
ministration of our Government be secured and prosperity and 
happiness attend the people. 

His masculine understanding and stout, resolute heart gave an 
earnestness of purpose to all his undertakings, which were always 
directed toward the preservation and improvement of his State 
and country and the happiness, prosperity, and advancement of 
the people. 

Bred to the profession of the law, that first and foremost of tho 
sciences, which quickens and invigorates as well as liberalizes 
the understanding, he rose to prominence at the bar of Mississippi, 
and at an early age was, from 1S56 to 1861, the district attorney 
for the tenth judicial district of that State. The civil war in l v 0l 
arrested for a time his advancement in his profession, but on tho 
return of peace he resumed its practice and continued to rise in 
its honors and emoluments. 

In the midst of professional engagements he was not indifferent 
to the claims of his party upon liis time and abilities, and became 
a prominent figure in the national Democratic conventions from 
186S to 1898, in which, as vice-president and chairman of the Mis- 
sissippi delegation, he gave to his party the benefits of his abilities 
and experience. That prominence in the councils of his party 
naturally led to his selection as Senator on the resignation of Mr. 
Lamar, and his repeated subsequent elections by the legislature of 
Mississippi in 188(3, 1888, and 1 SU^ attest the confidence and admira- 
tion of the people of that State, who have continuously honored 
and sustained him in all the efforts of his public life. 

He passed from the camp through the legal forum to the Sen- 
ate, where the integrity of his character was a shield against cal- 
umny, and no rumor or report ever tarnished its brightness. Ho 
3112 



LABKHKY Uh LUNOKt^ 



013 787 S58 A ^ 



s 



kept the even tenor of a diligent and industrious application to 
public duties, seeking neither applause nor compliment, content 
in the satisfaction that he served Mississippi with all the indus- 
try and energy of his nature, and the United States with thebest 
efforts of mind and body. 

Such. Mr. Presidenl . is but a brief epitome of the public useful- 
of the late Senator from Mississippi, to whom the Senate 
pays this day the last tribute of its admiration and regard. 

Without discrimination, I can say that since my entrance into 
this Hall there has not been among us a more erect and inde- 
nt spirit, a man of higher honor, of more manly mind or 
m ire firm and determined integrity than Edward Caky Wal- 

'111 \l.l,. 

He sleeps now in the bosom of our Southland, the land he loved; 
the land upon whose altar he offered life and all that life holds 
dear; the land where the sunlight glints in genial glow and the 
quick twinkle of the stars come true and gentle; where the skies 
bended ;us a bow, but the bow is without an arrow; a land where 
the magnolia is green all the year long and her blossom-crown is 
ever white; where the nightingale's song is in tune and the 
" musk of the roses blows." 

He sleeps there, and his dust, as it enriches and nurtures, im- 
parts his own modesty to the violets that peep out in early spring 
from the little green mound that swells above the buried chivalry; 
and if his unaffected purity of purpose and simplicity of nature 
in life linger with his dust, theirvirtues will feed the little daisies 
in their growth, while his warm Mississippi patriotism will give 
aroma and color to the rose as it bursts with imprisoned sweets. 
Peace to the ashes of my comrade in war and in peace. 



